April 29, 1999

GLAD Files Discrimination Suit Alleging Impermissible Sex Stereotyping

(Boston, MA) On April 29,1999, Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (“GLAD”) filed suit against Park West Bank & Trust Company on behalf of Lucas Rosa, a transgendered individual who was denied a loan application by a bank teller because Rosa did not appear dressed in traditional male clothing.

According to GLAD attorney Jennifer Levi, who along with GLAD’s Civil Rights Director Mary Bonauto filed the complaint, “The United States Supreme Court said in the 1989 case Hopkins v. Price Waterhouse that sex stereotyping is impermissible sex discrimination. Lots of people do not fit society’s rigid definitions of what counts as male and female. Refusing to provide service or extend credit to a person who was born male but dresses in female clothing and often passes for a woman is impermissible sex stereotyping. Both state and federal law forbid such practices.”

Plaintiff Rosa was born a biological male but often dresses in women’s clothing and passes for female. The suit stems from an incident on July 21, 1998 when Rosa, dressed in female clothing including earrings, entered West Bank, in Holyoke, Massachusetts and requested a loan application. A West Bank loan officer asked Rosa to produce three pieces of identification. Rosa complied, producing three pieces of photo identification, one in which Rosa looked like a man, one in which Rosa looked like a woman, and one in which Rosa’s gender was indeterminate. The bank teller then refused to provide Rosa with a loan application saying she would not provide one until Rosa went home, changed clothing and appeared in what the teller considered to be usual clothing for a man.

The suit charges that West Bank engaged in impermissible sex stereotyping in violation of the federal Equal Credit Opportunity Act that forbids sex discrimination in lending. It furthers charges the bank with discrimination under state law that forbids discrimination in credit and in places of public accommodation on the basis of sex, sexual orientation and perceived sexual orientation.

The teller’s actions devastated Rosa who explained, “I was extremely embarrassed, humiliated and upset when the loan officer said she would not give me a loan application until I went home and changed my clothes. The loan officer had three photographs sitting in front of her to confirm who I was. What I wear should not affect whether or not I get to apply for a loan.”

GLAD’s Mary Bonauto pointed out that “There is an overlap in the type of discrimination faced by transgendered people and gays and lesbians. Transgendered people as well as many gays and lesbians including masculine women and effeminate men do not conform to society’s gender stereotypes. When people allow their prejudices against gender nonconforming people to bubble over in the form of discrimination and bigotry, courts must step in to enforce existing nondiscrimination laws.”

Celebrating its 20th anniversary year, GLAD is New England’s leading legal organization conducting impact litigation and education to secure equal justice under law for gay, lesbian and bisexual people and people with HIV and AIDS.